Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Mysore to have upgraded KSRTC bus facility soon

A first of its kind in IndiaTo reduce traffic congestion and to cut down use of private transport, KSRTC has come up with several plans to improve transport facility in city.

Highlights of the services proposed

 City to have its own Corporation - MCTC SMS alerts on mobile Dedicated bus lanes GPS and PIS services Bus terminal and depot in Vijayanagar  Plasma screens in city bus stand Control room coming up in city bus stand BRTS / MRTC Service

Gone are the days when one was completely clueless about the arrival and departure of the bus save for the painted board at the bus-stop that displayed outdated information. All this is set to change with the implementation of the Passenger Information System (PIS) in Mysore City bus stands shortly.

KSRTC is planning to improve its services by deploying Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) along with a well – planned infrastructure. To meet this objective, KSRTC is hiving off its Corporation in the city naming it as Mysore City Transport Corporation (MCTC).

The name of MCTC is yet to be finalized as most people would expect it to be named as MMTC, on the lines of BMTC, but officials in the Corporation say it would be most likely MCTC, as Mysore is yet to become a Metropolitan City. It is not just a mere change of name but plans to introduce a slew of measures in a phased manner which when completely implemented would make bus ride in the city memorable for the passengers.

As Mysore now seems to be in growth phase it’s witnessing a lot of changes like construction of sub-ways, removal of encroachments on roads, paving of foot-paths with interlocked tiles all meant for the smooth flow of the pedestrians and traffic. Most of the roads in the city, built during the princely days, are quite narrow and cannot accommodate the additional traffic. Also except for some prominent roads in the heart of the city most others continue to be in a bad shape. The increased traffic density, coupled with bad roads has led to frequent traffic snarls and the numerous one-ways and No-Entries resulting in roundabouts has only worsened the misery.

The best solution to reduce traffic congestion on city’s roads as well as to check air pollution resulting from the exhaust fumes of hundreds of privately owned vehicles that ply each day on the roads is to have a an efficient public transport system in place, when more people would naturally opt to avail the services. Towards meeting this objective, the city’s KSRTC has taken up several ambitious plans to improve public transport facilities in the city and has planned many things under the guidance and support of KSRTC Managing Director Gaurav Gupta and Transport Minister & Home Minister R. Ashok.

Express spoke to M.N. Sreenivasa, Divisional Controller, KSRTC when he explained the details of the project as follows:

Passenger Information System (PIS)

One of the main reason people hesitate to avail the services of public transport is lack of precise information on when their designated bus would arrive at the bus-stop. With the exception of daily commuters, for the rest it is a common experience to learn that the bus, which they were supposed to catch, left just a minute before they arrived at the bus-stop and have no other option but to wait for the next one.

To mitigate such problems KSRTC proposes to introduce the Passenger Information System (PIS) also known as the Intelligence Transport System (ITS). Under the PIS, a large LCD screen will be fitted at every bus-stop displaying information such as the route number of the next bus to arrive at the bus-stop, its destination, type of bus, expected time of arrival along with the bus number.

The PIS will work using the GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. The information will be displayed both in Kannada and English. It will be first installed at 105 major bus stops [Under the ITS Project, 22 bus shelters were constructed by KSRTC and another 58 bus shelters will be constructed by the city Corporation on BOOT basis. 25 existing bus shelters already constructed by Corporation under BOOT will also be utilised for the ITS project]. With commuters now having precise information about the time of arrival of their bus, it will help them to schedule their works accordingly instead of wasting time at the bus-stops.

The cost of implementing the ITS project is estimated to be Rs.22.76 crore, of which Rs.8 crore will be provided by the World Bank and the remaining 14.76 crore will be funded by the Central Government. Global tenders have been floated for implementing the project and the list is already in the process of being finalized. The GPS technology has already been tried out on 20 buses plying in two different routes - Infosys & R.S. Naidu Nagar. Very soon the PIS display panels will be installed in bus stops, which helps passengers to access information in real time about the arrival and departure of busses.

Bus alerts via SMS

One can get instant SMS alerts on their mobiles through existing mobile services. It will be implemented on a trial basis for three years. Tenders for providing this facility will be finalized within two months and the system is expected to operational shortly. MCTC commuters can shortly know which route number bus to take for which destination via SMS.

Control room at City Bus stand

The city bus stand will have one huge control room that monitors the arrival and departure timings of busses and the same will be displayed on plasma screens for the public at each platform in a manner similar to that now being already used at the Airports.

BRTS – Bus Rapid Transit System

BRTS has already been implemented in several major cities across the country such as Delhi, Pune, Vishakapatnam, Ahmedabad, Indore and others. It is now proposed to be introduced in Mysore too at a cost of Rs. 400 crore. Dedicated bus lanes, exclusively meant for the Corporation buses will be demarcated on the city roads, thereby reducing the travel time and help commuters to reach their destination quickly.

To begin with KSRTC has identified four corridors where a bus will be departing every five minutes on the dedicated lane. The four corridors selected are between 1. Yelwala to Mellahalli (34 km, frequency every 6 mins.) 2. KRS to Kadakola (36 km, frequency every 5 mins.) 3. Bogadi to Mahadevapura (26 kms, frequency every 5mins.) and finally Srirangapatna – Udboor Cross (31 kms, frequency every 6 mins.)

Once passengers alight at their destination, there will be other feeder busses ready, which take passengers to interior of their localities. Similarly people, who wish to come to city, have to come to the BRTS corridor to catch a bus to reach the City Bus Stand and other above mentioned destinations.

Additional bus services in selected routes

Depending on the demand, additional bus services will be provided in select routes to beat the peak day rush. For example, on Fridays, more buses for Chamundi Hills and on weekends for KRS, Nanjangud, Srirangapatna will be provided. Everyday during evening additional trips will be operated to avoid the inconvenience for the regular commuters.

Under MCTD, 150 buses are already plying under JNNURM of which 30 are Volvo buses, 41 Marco Polo buses and 79 are semi low floor buses bus-bay buses meant for children and aged persons. All are provided with aesthetic interiors fitted with pneumatic doors having comfortable seating facilities. Electronic display route boards

MUDA sanctions land in Vijayanagar

Five acres of land has already been allotted by MUDA in Vijayanagar 4th stage to construct a bus depot with a bus terminal for which the blue print is also ready. With this the total number of bus depots in the city will then be 4 which will operate city depots.

Innovative environment friendly projects

To promote a clean environment by checking the emission of green house gasses, KSRTC has already introduced low emission buses that consume less fossil fuels by running on diesel blended with Ethanol. Also diesel particulated filter have been installed in one bus as a trial which is plying in Mysore. Further the number will be increased.Streamlining Management

Operation Managers will henceforth manage the entire fleet operations more effectively with the help of online remote access by monitoring the vehicle position and its speed. They also get to know instantly if there is any breakdown / accident through control room City Bus Stand. A two-way communication facility enabling instant contact with drivers in case of any Emergency will help in rushing aid to the spot immediately. Also management of diversions due to traffic jams and alerting the drivers becomes easier.

Preparation of daily reports and charts that assist various management levels in decision making becomes easy as access to all kinds of information such as routes cancelled, late trips, duration of break downs, offline time of vehicles, nature of accidents, its impact, operational losses etc. can be had at finger tips.

Travel time analysis becomes easier by monitoring route-wise stopping time at bus stops for various trips and average point to point speed. Also errant drivers can be identified by continuously monitoring improper halting at bus stops, route deviations and speed violations at all points of their journey.

All the above plans can be successfully implemented only when roads are maintained well. Though Mysore City Corporation has recently taken up major repair works on several roads and also widening them in some places by removing illegal encroachments, it is still a long way for the roads to become motorable during all seasons of the year.

Statistics of Mysore KSRTC

Total number of vehicles - 399Number of buses plying in city : 189 Sub-urban areas : 122 Ordinary services to surrounding villages- 73Villages covered from suburban and ordinary services - 131 Total number of schedules : 384--- -------------------------

7 hi-tech bus standsSeven hi-tech bus station constructed in Mysore at a cost of Rs. 108.59 crore under JNNURM (but the estimated cost was 85.25) they are:

Name of the Project. Estimated Cost in Crores Cost of the Project Rs in Crores Extent of Land No of Floors Built up area in sqm

* City Bus station, Muff- Bus station and Naidunagar bus stands – Completed works* Kuvempunagar and Sathgalli works has to be completed. * Ilawala bus stand inauguration by next month. * Work on Chamundi Hills is still going on